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Terry Wogan

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Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE DL (born August 3 1938, in Limerick, Ireland), more commonly known as Terry Wogan, is a radio and television broadcaster who has worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation in the UK for most of his career. He has been a leading media personality in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s, and is often referred to as a "national treasure" of both the United Kingdom and his native Ireland.

Early life

Terry Wogan, the son of a grocery store manager in Limerick, was educated at the Jesuit school of Crescent College from the age of eight. He experienced a strong religious upbringing, later commenting that "There were hundreds of churches, all these missions breathing fire and brimstone, telling you how easy it was to sin, how you'd be in hell. We were brainwashed into believing. Despite this, he has often expressed his fondness for the city of his birth, commenting on one occasion that "Limerick never left me, whatever it is, my identity is Limerick. At the age of 15, after his father was promoted to general manager, Wogan moved to Dublin with his family. Whilst living in Dublin, he attended Crescent College's sister school, Belvedere College. He participated in amateur dramatics and discovered a love of rock music. After graduating from Belvedere in 1956, Wogan began a career in the banking profession. He later joined the national broadcaster of Ireland, RTÉ (Radio Telefís Éireann) as a newsreader and announcer, after seeing an advert in a newspaper advertising announcer positions.

On April 25, 1965, Wogan married Helen Joyce with whom he has three children: Alan (born 1967) and twins Mark and Katherine (born 1970). He and his wife currently live in Bray, Berkshire, England.

Radio work

Early career

Wogan conducted interviews and presented documentary features during his first two years at Radio Telefís Éireann, before moving to the light entertainment department as a disc jockey and host of TV quiz and variety shows such as Jackpot, a top rated quiz show on RTÉ in the 1960s. When the show was dropped by RTÉ TV in 1967, Wogan approached the BBC for extra work. He began working for BBC Radio presenting Midday Spin in the mid-1960s and, on the inauguration of BBC Radio 1, he presented Late Night Extra for two years, commuting weekly from Dublin to London. After covering Jimmy Young's mid-morning show throughout July 1969, he was offered a regular afternoon slot from 3 to 5 p.m. This was officially on BBC Radio 1, but lack of funding meant that it was also broadcast on BBC Radio 2.

In April 1972, he took over the breakfast show on BBC Radio 2, swapping places with John Dunn, who briefly hosted the afternoon show. By this time, Radio 1 and Radio 2 had diverged sufficiently to allow separate programming. During Wogan's time on the breakfast show, he had achieved audiences of up to 7.6 million. He also released his own version of the song "The Floral Dance" during this time, by popular request from listeners who enjoyed hearing him sing over the instrumental hit by The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band. His version reached number 21 in the UK singles chart. A follow-up single, entitled "Me and the Elephant", and an eponymousalbum were also released, but did not chart.

In December 1984, Wogan left his breakfast show to pursue a full-time career in television. He was replaced on radio by Ken Bruce, followed shortly afterwards by Derek Jameson and finally Brian Hayes.

Return to Radio

In January 1993, he returned to BBC Radio 2 to present the breakfast show. His tendency to go off on rambling, esoteric tangents, often including banter with his then producer, the late Paul Walters, seems to have become popular with both younger and older listeners. The show is highly interactive with much of the entertainment coming from letters and emails sent in by listeners (many of whom adopt punning pseudonyms, such as Edina Cloud, Lucy Lastic, Mick Sturbs or Hellen Bach, for the purpose) with an often surrealistic bent. One memorable occasion involved Wogan reading out an email from someone using the name "Tess Tickles", without realising what the name was referring to, prompting Paul Walters' standard reply in such situations - "I only print 'em!"

As his radio show was perceived to attract older listeners, Wogan jokingly refers to his fans as "TOGs", standing for Terry's Old Geezers or Terry's Old Gals, whilst "TYGs" are Terry's Young Geezers/Gals who he jokes are forced to listen to him because of their parents' choice of radio station. Wogan is referred to as The Togmeister on his own programme by himself and members of his production team, and he refers to the podcast of his show as a 'togcast' in keeping with the acronyms described above.

There are also running jokes involving Wogan's newsreader colleagues Alan Dedicoat (nicknamed 'Deadly' after the Spoonerism 'Deadly Alancoat'), Fran Godfrey and John Marsh (nicknamed 'Boggy'). Marsh once told Wogan on air that his wife was called Janet, and a series of "Janet and John" stories followed, read by Wogan during the breakfast show. These are a pastiche of children's learn-to-read stories but always end with humorous double-entendres which often lead to Terry and Boggy breaking into uncontrollable laughter. Two CDs, the first with fourteen stories and the second with sixteen, have been sold by listeners in aid of Children in Need, and have raised an enormous amount for the campaign. A long-running campaign by Wogan criticising the British government for levying VAT on these CDs eventually led to a government rebate of £200,000.

Through his show Wogan is also widely credited with launching the career of singer Katie Melua after he repeatedly played her debut single, "The Closest Thing to Crazy", in late 2003. When she performed on Children in Need in 2005, Wogan jokingly said to Melua, "You owe it all to me, and maybe a little to your own talent". He has, however, made no secret that the credit for discovering her lies with his long time producer, the late Paul Walters.

In 2005, it was reported that his breakfast show Wake Up to Wogan attracted an audience of eight million. According to figures leaked to British newspapers in April 2006, Wogan was the highest paid BBC radio presenter at that time, with an £800,000 a year salary. In an interview with Britain's Hello magazine in its May 30, 2006 issue, Wogan confirmed this, saying, "The amount they said was true and I don't give a monkey's about people knowing it. Nor do I feel guilty. If you do the maths, factoring in my eight million listeners, I cost the BBC about 2p a fortnight. I think I'm cheap at the price".

On May 23, 2005, Wogan broke strike picket lines to present his show. The strike by BBC staff was a protest over announced job cuts. Reportedly, he gave them a smile and wished them all well. He explained on air that the reason for doing so was that he is contracted to host Wake up to Wogan and hence is not directly employed by the BBC, and so could not legally strike with their employees.

Wogan was forced off air on February 16, 2007 when steam from a nearby gym set off fire alarms. For 15 minutes an emergency tape played non stop music, finishing with 2Pac's' "Guess Who's Back". On returning, Wogan read out several light hearted comments from listeners saying that they thought he had died with his sudden disappearance and the playing of such sentimental music.

Television work

Children in Need

Wogan first appeared for Children in Need in 1978 during a five-minute appeal on Christmas Day, and repeated this in 1979. In 1980, the appeal was first broadcast as a telethon with Wogan presenting alongside Sue Lawley and Esther Rantzen. Wogan has been the presenter of this annual event ever since.

He has campaigned extensively for the charity and often involves himself via auctions on his radio show, or more directly by taking part in well-publicised sponsored activities. The BBC Children In Need 2006 programme trailer featured Wogan in a wrestling ring, supported by various television personalities. His unknown opponent appeared confident in defeating him, until Terry removes his shirt to reveal the physique of a bodybuilder. He has since joked on his BBC Radio 2 programme that the media had got it wrong, and that his body was superimposed on somebody else's head.

He is reported to be the only celebrity paid for his participation in Children in Need, having received a fee every year since 1980 (£9,065 in 2005). Wogan, however, has stated that he would "quite happily do it for nothing" and that he "never asked for a fee". The BBC stated that the fee had "never been negotiated". While Wogan's fee has been paid from BBC resources and not from the Children in Need charity fund..While there is no record of Wogan ever having repaid his fee from previous years, he has stated that he will not be receiving payment for presenting the 2007 show.

Eurovision Song Contest

Wogan has been the commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest every year since 1980, and is particularly noted for his sardonic and highly cynical commentaries. He also co-hosted the contest in 1998, with Ulrika Jonsson, live from Birmingham, and is a big advocate of the contest. He earns a reported £150,000 for his work with the contest. His commentating style, which often involves humour at the expense of others, has caused some minor controversy, for example when he referred to the hosts of the contest in Denmark as 'Doctor Death and the Tooth Fairy' according to John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Many British viewers consider his comments to be amusing, but his comments are far from being universally liked. The Danes were less than appreciative and Wogan now jokes that he is banned from visiting Denmark. During the 2007 BBC show Making Your Mind Up, in which the British public decides the UK entry for the Eurovision singing contest, Terry Wogan announced the runner up Cyndi as winner by mistake. The actual winner was a group called Scooch and, according to the BBC, Terry Wogan was provided the correct result during the live show.

During the presentation of the Dutch televote in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, Wogan called the Dutch televote presenter, Paul de Leeuw, an "eejit" (the pronunciation of 'idiot' still commonly used in Ireland and Scotland), as de Leeuw started to make comments and gave his mobile phone number and lengthened the Dutch results. Despite comments of this nature, many European countries broadcast the BBC's coverage of the event rather than going to the expense of covering it themselves.

Chris Tarrant remarked that "Terry Wogan's commentary is why any sane person would choose to watch the Eurovision," referring to his now-infamous acerbism.

Chat shows

In 1981, he had a chance to host a one-off chat show, Saturday Live. Among his guests on this show were Larry Hagman, promoting his new film S.O.B., and Frank Hall, who was then the Irish film censor. During the course of the interview, Hall accused Wogan of selling out his Irish heritage and, responding to a question posed by Wogan about his suitability as a film censor, said there was more filth on British Television than in film citing the BBC TV serial The Borgias as an example.

Wogan was given his own chat show, which was initially broadcast on Saturday nights but, between 1985 and 1992, became twice and later thrice-weekly. Notable moments of the series included interviews with a drunk George Best, a silent Chevy Chase, a nervous Anne Bancroft who was so petrified she gave monosyllabic answers and counted to ten before descending the entrance steps to the studio, Ronnie Barker announcing his retirement on the show, and David Icke claiming to be the "Son of God" to whom Wogan famously stated "They're laughing at you - they're not laughing with you."

In 1992, a poll apparently revealed Wogan to be simultaneously the most and the least popular person in Britain, and he was subsequently released from his talk-show contract after pressure from the BBC. He claims that the BBC also wanted his scheduling slot for the ill-fated soap Eldorado.

Wogan now presents Wogan Now And Then, a show where he interviews guests from his old chat show as well as new guests, and for which he reportedly earns £30,000 per episode. He claims that presenting the programme is a light relief after so many years on radio. Wogan also designed the set for his new show, allowing him to get a better feel for it. He even claims that the seat he uses is designed to support the lower back since he suffers from back complaints.

Written works

Sir Terry has published a number of written works, including:

He has also written two autobiographical volumes:

A diary was also published last year:

Other appearances

In 1981, Wogan set the world record for the longest successful golf putt ever televised, which was 33 yards (30.2m) at the Gleneagles golf course in a pro-celebrity TV programme on the BBC.

Wogan has appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in 2004, 2006 and 2007. In an appearance on the BBC programme Top Gear, Wogan managed to become one of the slowest people to go around the test track as the "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car", a Suzuki Liana. His time of 2:04 was faster only than Richard Whiteley, who lapped in 2:06. Wogan's time has been beaten by Johnny Vegas, who doesn't have a driving licence, and Bosnia war veteran Billy Baxter, who is blind.

Other television programmes he has presented:

Wogan also narrated the 1980's children's animated series Stoppit And Tidyup.

Honours and awards

In 2005, Wogan was awarded an honorary knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours, but, as a result of becoming a British citizen that year, the knighthood was made substantive on October 11 2005, allowing him to use the style "Sir". He was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997, which is now subsumed in the knighthood. On 29 May 2007 he was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Berkshire.

In 2004, he was awarded the Gold Blue Peter Badge.

On 15 June 2007, his home town of Limerick honoured him with the 'Freedom of the City' at a ceremony in Limerick's Civic Hall. The Freedom of Limerick honour dates from mediaeval times. Because of his long absence from the city as well as some well remembered, less than flattering remarks about the city in an 1980 interview, the local press carried out a vox pop which resulted in unanimous support for the award. He has since acknowledged the strength of character of the local population who "never give up ... never say die and ... are never beaten." "Limerick never left me" he is quoted as saying and "whatever it is, my identity is Limerick." He has previously received an honorary doctorate from the University of Limerick as well as a Special Lifetime Achievement Award from his native city

Radio 2's Ultimate Icon

Sir Terry was announced as the Ultimate Icon of Radio 2 to commemorate the station's 40th birthday. The shortlist of 16 candidates had been published on the BBC Radio 2 website and the winner was announced live on Radio 2 during Family Favourites with Michael Aspel on 30 September 2007. He praised his fellow nominees, The Beatles, Diana, Princess of Wales and Nelson Mandela during his acceptance speech which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 2, and he chose Nat King Cole's Stardust as his Iconic Song of the last 40 years, which he had chosen twice before as his favourite record on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

References in popular culture

As a well-known public figure, Terry Wogan has been referred to on television, in novels, in films, and in music. In the novelization of the television series Yes, Prime Minister, for example, the fictional Prime Minister, Jim Hacker, discusses having an interview with Wogan. To his suggestion that Wogan be given a knighthood to ensure that the interview went well, his Private Secretary replied "Sir Terence Wogan? I hardly think so, Prime Minister."

Wogan is referred to in the song "The Dark of the Matinée" by Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand. The relevant line goes "So I'm on BBC2 now telling Terry Wogan how I made it and / What I made isn't clear now, but his deference is and his laughter is / My words and smile are so easy now...". Wogan was also mentioned in the box set The Business - the Definitive Singles Collection by British 2 Tone band Madness. Track 9 of disk 2 is the "Terry Wogan Jingle" lasting 25 seconds in the line "Ter-ry Wo-gan is a blankety blankety blank".

Wogan is also referred to in 'The Hitcher' episode of the British comedy series, The Mighty Boosh. He appears briefly in the 'Celebrity Vicar' episode of The Vicar of Dibley, another Britcom, when Rev. Geraldine Granger (Dawn French), is interviewed on Wogan's radio programme, 'Pause for Thought'.

As someone whose career was principally based in the United Kingdom, Wogan was relatively unknown in the United States until the release of the 1991 film, The Commitments, in which Jimmy Rabitte repeatedly does mock interviews with "Terry". Wogan is also referred to in the Willy Russell play "One for the Road". In this, the characters play a game called "The Wogan Game" in which they act out interviews from the show, pretending to be Wogan.

References

External links



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